The Beer Nut: Local GABF winners, Wally Juice on the way, Beer Mansion time

Wednesday

Oct 11, 2017 at 11:07 AMOct 11, 2017 at 1:57 PM

Norman Miller Daily News Staff @Norman_MillerMW

New England breweries took home seven medals this past weekend at the Great American Beer Fest in Colorado.

In all, judges awarded medals in 97 different categories at the GABF, the largest beer festival and competition in the United States. The GABF is held by the Brewers Association, which is the trade organization for craft breweries.

The competition is west coast heavy, with California and Colorado having the most breweries taking part. Only about a dozen New England breweries participated this year.

Stony Creek Brewing Company of Connecticut was the big winner, taking home two bronze medals. They won medals for Stony Joe in the “Coffee Beer” category, as well as for Dock Time in the “Vienna Lager” category.

New England breweries took two medals in the “Classic Saison” category. Hobbs Farm & Brewing of New Hampshire took a bronze for its One Arm Farmhouse Ale, while Night Shift Brewing of Everett took the silver for Matisse.

Cambridge Brewing Company took a bronze in the “Mixed-Culture Brett Beer” category for Cor Cordium, in collaboration with Jester King of Texas.

The lone New England gold goes to Connecticut’s Back East Brewing’s Porter, which won the “Brown Porter” category.

Finally, Half Full Brewing, also of Connecticut, won the bronze medal in the “English-style Summer Ale” category for its Bright Ale.

In other news, Wachusett Brewing Company of Westminster announced the release of its newest beer, Wally Juice.

The original Wally was the brewery’s most successful beer launch ever, and Wally Juice is “hazier, juicier, more intense.”

“Our brewers deserve all the credit for making such a fantastic beer in Wally,” said Wachusett President Christian McMahan. "To go right back to Wally and push the boundaries of the style to create the next evolution of Wally Juice is amazing.”

Wally Juice, which comes in at 7 percent alcohol by volume, is available on draft now and will be available in 16 ounce cans on Nov. 1.

Finally, Brooklyn Brewery is bringing its Beer Mansion to Boston on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 at the Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street.

The Beer Mansion is a beer festival like no other, described as a celebration of beer, art, music and science.

The Beer Mansion is split up into several rooms, and each one has a theme – Tart of the Tropics will feature fruity and light beers; the Forest will feature hoppy and “outdoorsy” beers; the Harvest will feature sessionable beers and the Darkness will feature porters, stouts and robust brown ales.

The final room is called the Anatomy of Beer, which is described as “a pause at the intersection of art and science.”

There will be food from Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, Pennypackers and Tenoch Mexican. Breweries participating include Allagash Brewing Company of Maine, Mayflower Brewing Company of Plymouth and Ipswich Brewing Company.

Tickets are $50 and are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-beer-mansion-tickets-37818535257.

Norman Miller is a Daily News staff writer. Email him at nmiller@wickedlocal.com or call 508-626-3823. Check out the Beer Nut blog at http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/section/blogs01?taxid=646&start=2. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @RealBeerNut and on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerBeerNut.